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You’ve heard it time and time again: Content is king, but quality is queen. You may be thinking: “All of my quality content is of no use if my articles cannot be seen. Give me something tangible to work with!”

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is often that “tangibility” element many article writers seek. Need proof? Take a look at the competition out there; e.g., the keyword “SEO” has over 11,000,000 global monthly searches alone.

What’s amazing is that many authors already have what they need. With the assistance of even the most simple keyword tools and a finger on the pulse of your niche, you can be successful without the bells and whistles. Here’s how:5 SEO Elements That Are Overlooked

Quality – Hands down, quality content that provides a good user experience is rewarded. From good grammar to even navigation and presentation – a quality user experience is memorable and makes people want to come back for more (resulting in a higher return rate, more traffic, and a higher rank). The alternative (i.e., poor quality) is no one is satisfied and you risk a deindexed or banned website.

Originality – Not just for credibility sake, originality is rewarded. Readers, article directories, search engines, etc., are not happy with redundant, derivative content – they want something new, a different angle, or a fresh perspective. Your content should have a unique impression on your niche – let your singular experiences shine.

Relevance – In addition to maintaining a quality user experience, relevance is a key component to natural link building. For example: If you publish an article on EzineArticles.com with links in your Resource Box leading back to areas on your website or Blog that relate to your article’s topic, then you will have built a natural link. Not only do visitors notice, search engines do too.

Target – Researching your target audience isn’t just about demographics and personas, although this information is incredible when you’re cultivating topics to write about as well as provide more engaging content. When considering your audience, look for the keywords your targeted audience is using to find what they want and need.

Evergreen – Writing content that stands the test of time is just smart. Not only will you get more out of evergreen content than the time it took to write it, evergreen content will continue building your authority and your rank. Content like “2012 Mayan Apocalypse” may as well have a countdown clock; it depreciates as soon as it’s published.

The Key to Making These 5 SEO Elements Work

Quality, originality, relevance, target, and evergreen won’t get you anywhere if you start writing articles in the broadest part of your niche. You will easily become overwhelmed and you won’t be able to compete with the already established authorities of your niche.

The key to success is this: You must first establish your credibility and rank before you can take on broader areas of your niche. So take a step (maybe even a giant step) back and establish your credibility.

Here’s how: start small.

First, find areas of your niche that have low competition, but are still in demand. Remember that “SEO” keyword we discussed earlier? No one is going to make it on “SEO” – way too broad. However, we can extend the keyword to focus the topic, e.g., SEO and Blog Writing, SEO and Social Media Writing, SEO and Article Writing, etc. Then we can break this down even further into the long-tail, e.g., “SEO and Article Writing: How to Use Long-Tail Keywords Naturally.”

Next, build an article portfolio as well as a high-quality website that reflect the 5 SEO elements outlined above (quality, originality, relevance, target, and evergreen). This will help you establish your foothold in your niche – you will be more easily seen by readers, picked up by publishers, be open to website or blog visitors, and established in search engines.

Once you’ve established a following or connection with publishers, readers, and visitors, then you’re ready to take it to the next level. Just don’t dive into the deep end of your niche until your credibility can keep you afloat.

Avoid getting swallowed up in your niche and don’t be afraid to narrow your area of expertise, since it can always be expanded later. Establish your credibility in more specific, targeted areas of your niche before taking on the big leagues and SEO will naturally work for you.

I totally agree with all five elements especially the Relevance one. As some pointed out the Panda and Penguin updates you have to stay on track and on topic when you write an article. Have to keep each reader engaged. It’s always nice when you also able to educated them on a certain topic so they take something with them that they will not only remember but will also tell others.

The most important factor is the originality of a content
in that particular niche. Almost every article you go through in web , 40 % info of that particular article can be found some where else . Hope You can Understand What I mean To say.

Whereas, Evergreen articles are an interesting concept. I can recall writing articles about events that ended up with 10,000 plus article views, and then later replayed as folks noted a similar event in the present period, thus, it made the grade for historical sake as well. Articles on Hurrican Katrina and New Orleans levee system for instance.

I agree with your slant on “evergreen” articles, however, there is an awful lot to be said for “topical content”.

I personally think that the two styles should be interchangable, if something topical happens and it will have an effect on you or your target audience, don’t you owe it to you and your target audience to inform and educate them about the said topic?

good point about “evergreen” articles, I have witnessed this first hand when I wrote tutorials for Java – these articles continue to harvest authority links every day. To add to your points about evergreen the topic of the article need to be ever evolving so is the need for it (tutorials are good examples), luck might also play a role, I had written a page once that got ranked 7, as the topic become less important or the need for it; the page retreated back to 4 and the links simply stopped coming.

We recommend becoming an expert in your particular niche. This involves doing some research into what your readers are interested in, what your competitors are doing, etc. Along with research we also suggest utilizing our Training Series provided for our authors here: http://ezinearticles.com/training/

How can I know that my website keyword search terms will be used by the audience? Even when someone does use it, my website should figure in the first page of google. Even if it does occupy the first page, people should be willing to click the link to reach our page. We need to think optimistic and keep doing the simple things correct at all times.